As for your second question it depends which part of the public you ask. Some Hipster area in Stockholm, they're considered worse than Hitler himself, while in rural Skåne, they're not seen as especially controversial.
But they've gotten rid of their most openly racist policies and the Nazis, who've moved on to the National Democrats (ND) and The Swedes' Party (SvP)
That is very interesting. I guess that SD have moved toward the center (to some extent at least), which has enabled them to gain far more voters than other rightwing populist parties in Sweden. Their level of support as of today resembles FrP and Dansk Folkeparti.
Could you explain what sorts of parties the National Democrats and The Swedes Party are? Are they just a more radical/extreme version of the SD?
The National Democrats are openly racist, they oppose race-mixing and wants Sweden to return to some idyllic nineteenth century farmer society. They're complete nutjobs.
However, they are nowhere near as scary as SvP which is a Nazi party. SvP used to be called National Socialist Front when I was in high school. They're exactly what that sounds like.
All of the non-SD far-right groups are very tiny fringe groups. And all totally insane. SD has done a good job of cleaning up their image, which is why they get so much support now.
The Swedish mainstream right is not at a place where they can cooperate with SD and if they did a large chunk of their support would join the left. I know plenty of activists for the government who would prefer a left-wing government over one with SD in it. Long term I guess we will go down the Danish/Norwegian route though.
That is exactly what i am thinking. I would say in about/less 10 years from now the Alliance wants to cooperate with the SD. First, in the municipalities than on the federal level. These 10 years are also very good for SD to professionalize itself, to consolidate, to stabilize and to train cadres and also in order to grow through their status as opposition party. Mistakes of the center-right as the liberalization of immigration law, despite the excesses of the multicultural society will give the SD boost. In a few years reaching the level of DPP, Finns and FrP.
However, the candidates of the SD for the European elections look atrocious. Why did they chose them, who are they and were there no better ones? They really do not look like i could vote for them.
